A few years back, when I was undertaking studies in a naturalist certification program, a botanist and visiting conservation lecturer introduced our class to the term biophilia, which, he explained, means "love of all life and the living world; a love of all life forms." Immediately enamored of the concept, I was equally compelled when the botanist asked, "And do you know why biophilia is so ...
Pet food packaging and advertising are designed to attract consumers – people who buy food for their dogs and cats. Purina and other brands market their products to buyers: “Chicken is your favorite food and your dog and cat’s favorite too.” Recently the promoters of Evolution Pet Food, “Premium Vegan Pet Foods since 1989,” urged me to “start telling people that baby male chicks and spent layer ...
Our latest rescue, Bodhi, a Rhode Island Red rooster about 6 months old, was found on the side of the road on the Northwest side of Chicago on the chilly and snowy evening of December 19th, 2016. A good Samaritan was kind enough to scoop him up, contact us for help, and then bring him to nearby Niles Animal Hospital & Bird Medical Center where staff generously and lovingly treated and housed ...
I have long been critical of “effective animal advocacy” research on the grounds that (a) The work is often conducted by untrained amateurs without research experience; (b) The work has a bias against animal rights; (c) The research design, methods, analyses, and interpretations of findings have been highly flawed; (d) Peer review is almost never sought; (e) Often, misleading reports are ...
This article has been published under permission of the author. The original appears here. As a dietitian working in the area of vegan nutrition, I see no shortage of outrageous claims about vegan diets. They come from both sides of the debate. Advocates for veganism sometimes ascribe unsubstantiated benefits to vegan diets while downplaying concerns about meeting nutrient needs. On the ...
It’s only natural, once we become aware of the horrible injustices humans thrust upon our fellow earthlings, that we then want to get active and do something about it. But what’s a vegan to do, what is accessible to all, fun and effective enough to reach the masses? Let's talk about a vegan chalk revolution! Plagued by the question of what more he could be doing to help animals in his everyday ...
When we who have access to plant-based foods and the lands to grow them persist in farming living beings and consuming their corpses and reproductive secretions; when we forcibly breed billions of sentient individuals into existence for the sole purpose of sending them, in their infancy or youth, to a slaughterhouse, a.k.a abattoir, from the french abattre, to put an end to, to beat down— When ...
What does a deer, a wolf, or a coyote have to do with vegan activism? A lot. Veganism is the platform for defending the untamed. That’s what the vegan ethic is ultimately all about. A vegan humanity wouldn’t hunt deer. We wouldn’t run cattle and sheep ranches. A vegan humanity wouldn’t compete against and kill natural predators to keep more deer to ourselves or sell more lambs to the ...
Compassion Over Killing’s (COK) investigation this summer takes us inside the bleak and brutal world of “broiler breeder” chickens, the hens and roosters who produce the eggs that become the chicks who are slaughtered at 6 weeks old for “chicken” (4). The investigation was conducted at Tyson Foods facilities in Virginia, but poultry companies, by whatever name, are all “Tyson.” In Prisoned ...
The following is an interview with Hope Bohanec, author of The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat? She is presenting "The Humane Hoax" at Chicago Veganmania this year on Saturday, October 1st, from 1pm-2pm on the Main Stage. 1. How and when did you get your start in animal advocacy? Who were some of the people and organizations that you worked with or were inspired by? From a very young ...
